Grapelegends | A new weekly wine video worth checking out

The idea of offering wine videos has been around for a number of years, yet it took the outsized personality of Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library to make the jump from nerdy niche to more mainstream consciousness. Gary abruptly ended the rabidly entertaining and acclaimed Wine Library TV in 2011. What’s left is either situated behind paywalls of sites intended only for subscribers, or covers a wide range of free video available from well-respected authorities like Jamie Goode, on down to a handful of amateurs who do a pretty thorough job of mangling the material they present, no matter how attractive the wine or the scenery, and seem to not understand the purpose of a spit bucket.  I’m the first to admit videos are a challenge, I have offered a few on this site but I realize it takes a lot of time and practice to do well, and I have not had the inclination to make that commitment as it would take time away from the publication of purely domestic wine report which is my main priority. 

Just this week, I learned of a new website called GrapeLegends.com through a post on the eRobertparker.com bulletin board. It is the result of the vision of a serious oenophile named Robert Kenney, better known amongst the denizens of the site as merely ‘Kenney’. His ambitious plan is to offer a weekly video interview with personalities from the wine industry. His first guest was none other than the articulate Antonio Galloni, wine critic of The Wine Advocate, presumably filmed in the NYC area. The interview, presented in short clips, offered some insightful questions allowing Galloni plenty of time to answer fully and candidly.

As with any new undertaking, I imagine the somewhat sparse site will evolve, much in the same way pdwr has. Currently, Kenney posts his interview questions in a flash of text on-screen that could benefit from lasting longer and contrasting more with the background. For the time being, Kenney tells me he is not interested in injecting himself into the frame. It remains to be seen if that continues. With more solid interviews in the future, viewers may press to see the man behind the curtain, providing more interaction with the guest.

For more information and to view the Galloni interview, please go to www.grapelegends.com

I have added the link to Grape Legends to the sidebar in this online journal.